It's a slapstick comedy about a bunch of people who overhear a dying man reveal the location of $350,000 he stole years ago, and then set off on a madcap race to get there first (after a brief attempt at cooperation that falls apart after they can't decide on how to divide the money equally). All of this is being tracked by the cops, especially a captain (Spencer Tracy) who really wants to clear this last case before he can retire.
My dad commented that he couldn't figure out how Stanley Kramer got Tracy to be in this movie. They did a lot of films together, but not many like this one.
Like any comedy, it's going to depend on what you find funny when it comes to characters. Ethel Merman's bossy mother-in-law wore thin on me in the first fifteen minutes, but I enjoyed Jonathan Winters' character quite a bit.
It's a long movie, almost 3.5 hours. Certain sequences drag on forever, especially the ones of Ethel Merma's son, Sylvester, dancing with his girlfriend in his apartment. But the whole sequence with Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett in the plane also. They're trying to give everyone plenty of screen time, but they don't really have enough for everyone to do to justify it.
That said, there are some hilarious sequences (I enjoyed Winters destroying that roadside gas station), and I like the points when the police are just befuddled by what these idiots are doing. It just needed to be at least 30 minutes shorter.
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2 comments:
Yeah, it is a bit long, but I have always adored this movie...espcially Jonathan Winters, who is simply fabulous. I love the last scene in the hospital, when Erhyl Merman goes stomping into the ward where they are all recovering and falls flat on her behind...and they all crack up.
That final gag in the hospital room was great.
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